The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) paid GHS 402.59 million in commissions to a third-party vendor managing its payment platform before settling debts to key power producers, according to a newly completed audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The payments were made outside the standard Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM), raising concerns over ECG's financial management practices and the broader liquidity challenges within Ghana's energy sector.
The findings, part of PwC's latest audit covering ECG's full-year financials from January to December 2024, follow a previous audit that examined only the last quarter of 2023. The earlier report flagged revenue discrepancies, liquidity challenges, and operational inefficiencies-issues that appear to have persisted over a longer timeframe.
Commissions exceed payments to power producers The audit shows these vendor commissions were comparable to the GHS 411.67 million paid to the Volta River Authority (VRA) and significantly exceeded the GHS 322.79 million paid to Bui Power Authority (BPA) during the same period. "There is currently no provision in the CWM Guidelines for commissions such as this to be deducted before the net amounts are reported in the CWM for allocation," the audit states, highlighting how these payments bypassed the system designed to ensure fair distribution of funds across Ghana's power sector.
The audit reveals that ECG consistently prioritized these commission payments, deducting them before declaring revenue collections to the Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM), effectively reducing the pool of funds available for power producers and other sector stakeholders.
